So Near, Yet So Far
by Redmage2
Summary: An RODNaruto crossover. Anita vs. Sakura!
1. San Shimai, fight!

Disclaimer: No, they aren't mine. :::sighs:::  
  
(Glossary at the bottom)  
  
'  
  
So Near, Yet So Far...  
  
'  
  
"Maggie-chan?" a blonde woman stopped and turned to look at the tall, black haired woman who had paused at the entrance of an alley with a frown on her face.  
  
"Nee-san, I thought I heard something down there," the woman replied in a low voice. Her three companions joined her at the entrance to the alley and squinted into the blackness.  
  
"Ma-nee, I don't see anyth—"the youngest girl began, but she suddenly paused and turned her head slightly. "I heard something, too. It sounds like a boy talking, but it's really quiet."  
  
Maggie nodded seriously. "Something feels...strange...about this place," she said quietly.  
  
Sumiregawa Nenene groaned as she saw the interest on the other women's faces. "This is how you three get into so much trouble. You go looking for it! If someplace feels strange, don't go to it! And stop worrying about other peoples' business. It's probably a gang or something."  
  
"But sensei, someone might need our help!" Michelle responded, and called out in a cheerful, sing-song voice, "San shimai kaigi!" As soon as her two sisters turned their attention away from the alley, she continued. "All in favor of exploring the alley?" She raised her hand into the air. Maggie also lifted her arm. Anita looked at Nenene, then back down the dark alley before turning her attention to her sisters and their raised hands. She raised her hand as well.  
  
"Okay," Michelle said. "It's unanimous; we go investigate."  
  
"Hey! That wasn't unanimous! I don't think you should go!" Nenene shouted.  
  
"Sumimasen, sensei. But we can't just ignore someone who might be in trouble," Michelle stated calmly. Nenene huffed and went to lean up against one of the buildings bordering the alley.  
  
The three sisters turned to face the entrance to the alley, paper sliding out of their sleeves to form their protective clothing. "Where the hell do they keep all that paper, anyway?" Nenene muttered. "Mou, I probably don't want to know." Raising her voice, she called out, "Well, I hope you don't think I'm going to come along to keep you out of trouble."  
  
All three looked back at her, but it was Michelle, once again overly cheerful, who answered. "Don't worry about us, sensei. We'll have fun—ow!" She cut off with a yelp as Anita kicked her in the shin.  
  
"We're supposed to be finding out where that voice is coming from, not having fun, baka," Anita growled. Michelle laughed nervously in response.  
  
"Of course, of course. Don't worry about us, sensei!"  
  
"I wasn't," Nenene responded flatly to Michelle's cheery tone. She looked over at Anita to see the girl glaring at her. She glared back. "You got a problem, chibikko?"  
  
Anita scowled at the nickname, but stuck out her tongue at the author. "You're just scared."  
  
"WHAT?" Nenene lunged into the alley at the girl, and was in the process of wrestling her into a headlock when they all heard the faint voice from the shadows suddenly give a yelp of pain. She immediately let go of Anita, who pulled out a sheet of paper and sprang back to stand closer to her sisters.  
  
All four women tried again in vain see what was hidden in the dark alley. Maggie shook her head and murmured, "I still can't see anything."  
  
The sisters looked at each other decisively, and nodded as one. Michelle spoke quietly. "Let's go." They turned to look expectantly at their companion.  
  
Nenene sighed. "Fine, I'm coming, too." She ignored Anita's smirk. "Someone has to get you out of this mess."  
  
The three sisters readied their paper, and Nenene lightly pushed her glasses further up on her nose. Together, they walked forward until they were completely swallowed by the shadows.  
  
'  
  
You should know these if you watch ROD, but you're new, here are the basic terms I may be using throughout the story:  
  
Nee-san: sister; what Maggie calls Michelle  
  
Ma-nee: Anita's abbreviation for Maggie-nee, "Sister Maggie," pretty much. You get what it means...  
  
Mi-nee: Anita's abbreviation for Michelle-nee, "Sister Michelle"  
  
Nene-nee: Anita's abbreviation for Nenene-nee, "Sister Nenene" (because Nenene-nee-sama is too complicated )  
  
Sensei: Nenene is an author, so here, that's what 'sensei' is referring to  
  
San shimai kaigi: I'm almost positive that this is what Michelle's saying in the original Japanese, but since I don't know the language, I can't be totally sure. Anyway, it means "Three sisters meeting"  
  
Sumimasen: I'm sorry; it just seemed to fit better than the English here  
  
chibikko: shorty; Nenene's nickname for Anita  
  
'  
  
Next chapter: A look at things from the other side of the alley... I should have it up sometime next week. 


	2. From Bad to Worse

Summary: An ROD/Naruto crossover. They're both twelve year olds with pink hair and green eyes, but that's where the similarities end.  
  
...that was the original tag line. I'm not sure it fits anymore. Eventually, I'll get to the point where this is applicable:  
  
Sakura vs. Anita!  
  
But since they haven't even met yet, here's my summary: After a stressful day of dealing with her team, Sakura learns that her day actually _can_ get worse.  
  
'  
  
A/N: Different perspective from the last chapter, but I like the flow. No one's really worried about consistency in writing style here, are they? I didn't think so.  
  
This chapter is in the Naruto world, and I've decided it will take place after the Wave country arc. Not that you can really tell. Just know that it's before the chuunin exam.  
  
Again, there's a glossary at the bottom.  
  
Chapter 2:  
  
From Bad to Worse  
  
'  
  
Sakura was not having a good day.  
  
She glared at two of her male companions, and barely refrained from glaring at the third.  
  
All three remained oblivious.  
  
Sakura decided to settle for just glaring at Naruto, in the hope that he would eventually notice and shut up. After all, it was his fault, as usual, that she was having a bad day. Well, Kakashi-sensei's too. She glared at him briefly before realizing that even if he did notice her frustration, he wouldn't acknowledge it.  
  
She glared at Naruto some more.  
  
Stupid Kakashi-sensei and his "missions." Normally, she didn't mind them, but at the same time, Sakura didn't think that most of them really deserved to be classified as "missions." This time the team had needed to retrieve a book from the library for a visiting daimyo. Sakura didn't think that a book required a shinobi team to escort it, but the Hokage had given them the assignment nonetheless. She had recognized the title of the book as one that her father had in his library, and expected that she and her team would have been able to find it in the library and leave within a matter of minutes. Of course, nothing was ever that simple when Naruto was concerned.  
  
As she continued to glare at Naruto, she remembered how everything had gone wrong so quickly. She had gone up to ask the librarian where to find the book and Naruto had been practically tripping on her heels, looking around the huge building with his mouth agape. Sasuke was also looking around, but with much more dignity, and an air of apparent boredom. Kakashi, with his usual method of hands-off leadership, was leaning against a wall by the door, having decided that a library was a great place to read his book.  
  
The librarian had been looking up the row where their book could be found in a massive cabinet that housed the card catalog. Naruto had been concentrating chakra to his feet and legs and jumping up and down to see if he could get high enough to see over the top of the enormous bookshelves. Just as Sakura had been about to put him in a headlock to stop him, he pushed too much chakra into his right leg and ended up leaping sideways into the card catalog, knocking it over, and spilling the cards everywhere.  
  
Sakura remembered the librarian turning a shade of red disturbing for someone so old, before glaring at her and fiercely whispering at the team to remove themselves from the premises and never return. Returning to the present, Sakura continued stalking rigidly down the street. How could _she_ have been kicked out of a library? It's not like it was her fault. Stupid, stupid Naruto. She was acknowledged as the smartest person in their class and now she couldn't go to the library!  
  
Naruto suddenly stopped talking.  
  
Sakura almost sighed with relief, but continued to glare.  
  
Naruto stared right back at her. "Sakura-chan?"  
  
Sakura narrowed her eyes, then switched her gaze to the road to her house. After Naruto had gotten them kicked out, Kakashi had informed them that they still needed to complete the mission, so she had told her team that her father owned the book. Now the entire team was going to her house to retrieve it, despite her protests that she could manage by herself if she had just a little help, mainly from Sasuke. She glared at Kakashi briefly. Stupid teamwork.  
  
Naruto had started talking again. Sakura's eyebrow twitched.  
  
Five...  
  
Four...  
  
Three...  
  
Two...  
  
One...  
  
"Naruto, you moron!" she yelled, accompanying her words with a punch to his jaw. The boy quit talking with a yelp of pain as he flew sideways briefly before crashing into the wall of a building. "This is all your fault! You got me kicked out of the library! The library!! I think you've done enough for one day, so would you at least SHUT UP?!"  
  
Kakashi and Sasuke wisely stopped a few feet away from the entrance to the alley where Sakura had cornered Naruto.  
  
Kakashi decided to intervene before the pink-haired kunoichi strangled the the blonde boy into unconsciousness. "Maa, maa, Sakura—" He stopped talking and glanced down into the alleyway. Sasuke took a step toward them as Sakura let Naruto slump to the ground from where she had him pinned to the wall.  
  
"You guys—do you feel that?" she whispered.  
  
Neither answered, and she reached nervously into her kunai pouch and gripped the handle of her weapon. Naruto stood up dizzily and joined her at the entrance to the alley, along with Sasuke, who was frowning into the darkness. Their sensei, who appeared far more interested in his surroundings than normal, stepped in front of his students. Together, the four of them stared intently into the darkness, trying to pinpoint the reason for their unease.  
  
'  
  
If you watch Naruto, these terms are probably familiar, but if you don't, here's my little glossary for your convenience  
  
daimyo: feudal lord  
  
shinobi: another term for a ninja  
  
Hokage: leader of the Hidden Leaf shinobi  
  
chakra: energy that a ninja concentrates to parts of the body or into jutsus (techniques)  
  
kunoichi: female ninja  
  
kunai: ninja dagger  
  
shuriken: throwing stars  
  
genin: beginner ninjas...the first level out of the academy  
  
chuunin: the rank of captain in ninja squads  
  
jounin: elite, advanced ninjas  
  
Konoha: the village this story takes place in, home of the Hidden Leaf shinobi  
  
'  
  
And, just in case anyone is completely lost at this point, the characters from the first chapter are from the anime ROD. Michelle (oldest), Maggie (middle sister, 19), and Anita (youngest, at 12) are three sisters who can manipulate paper into doing stuff like forming shields, bow and arrows (Michelle), animals for fighting or flying (Maggie), or using each sheet for a dagger-like weapon (Anita's specialty). Of course, they can do other things with the paper too, but those are the basics. Nenene is an author in Japan who the sisters are staying with and protecting from further assassination attempts like the one that occurred in the first episode.  
  
The characters from this chapter are from Naruto. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are twelve year old rookie genin who make up one team, headed by the jounin teacher Kakashi. Sasuke and Naruto both have special abilities, and are quite strong, especially for their level, but Sakura is a fairly undeveloped character, whose only real practical asset in battle so far is her intelligence and chakra control. I have a feeling that most people reading this story will be familiar with Naruto, so it probably doesn't require as much of an explanation. Plus, I think I did a better job of portraying characters and relationships in this chapter than I did in the previous one.  
  
If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave a review and I will definitely respond to you. It's not like I have an overwhelming number of them... :::checks empty mailbox::: Constructive criticism is most assuredly welcome. I'm an English major, so editing is important to me. I also tried to keep everyone in character, so if I've failed in either of these aspects, please feel free to let me know.  
  
'  
  
Next chapter: Face to face! Nenene's San Shimai vs. Kakashi's Team Seven!  
  
...actually, not much happens. They just meet, yell at each other, etc... But reactions are fun. It's not written yet, so it could go up in a week or two.  
  
' 


	3. Reactionary

Summary: ROD the TV's Paper Sisters (and Nenene) have entered a strange alley, after hearing voices coming from it. Naruto's Team Seven have paused at the entrance to an alley after getting a strange feeling from it. Will they soon encounter Michelle, Maggie, Anita, and Nenene? Of course!  
  
**OLD READERS, PLEASE NOTE**: In the last chapter, I said this would take place before the chuunin exam. I have since changed my mind (mainly because of Sakura—I want her hair short :-p ). It now takes place AFTER the exam in that mysterious parallel dimension that the second Jump Special seemed to take place in.  
  
'  
  
A/N: Wow, this took a really long time to get here, and it doesn't have much to offer, action-wise. However, the next chapter is mapped out, and it will have plenty of Anita vs. Sakura. And hopefully, it won't take nearly as long to get itself written. -.-' If you want to know more about why this took so long, there are more of my notes down at the bottom, along with review responses (yay!). But for now, on with the story.  
  
Chapter 3:  
  
Reactionary  
  
'  
  
The four shinobi watched tensely as a girl, soon followed by three women, stepped out of the deep darkness in the back of the alley, and into the area where the shadows were mixed with sunlight. When the muted sunlight did not reflect from the metal of any weapons, but only from the glasses of the last woman, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke relaxed slightly. Their sensei, on the other hand, rested his hand on his hip, very near one of his weapons pouches. He saw what his students did not yet have the experience to see; these strangers were not normal citizens of Konoha who had perhaps wandered into this alleyway by mistake; these four women were just as prepared for an attack as his students...and he didn't yet know whether they were preparing to defend themselves or become the attackers. Kakashi knew that they were not unarmed simply because they did not openly carry any metal weapons.  
  
As they moved slowly out of the semi-shadows, Kakashi's students saw that the women were not, as they had thought, unarmed. Sasuke instantly went back to his former defensive posture. Naruto squinted at the weapon, clearly puzzled. If they had been looking at him, his teammates would have almost seen the question marks dancing around Naruto's head. Nevertheless, he was not about to be outdone by Sasuke, so he tensed again, ready to attack at a moment's notice. Sakura also gripped her kunai tighter as she stared at the girl's hand, recognizing the object it gripped as a weapon, but she was unable to fully believe what her eyes were telling her brain. Sakura saw that, first a blonde woman, then a tall, dark haired woman who followed the pink-haired out of the shadows were both armed the same way.  
  
When the last woman stepped out of the shadows, both groups stood and stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Naruto shifted from foot to foot, anxious to do something. When he could take the silence no longer, he leaned over to whisper loudly in Sakura's ear. "Hey, is that your sister?" Sakura turned her head slowly to look at Naruto out of the corner of her eye. When the boy caught her glare, he hurriedly moved several steps away from his furious teammate.  
  
The last person to leave the alley, Nenene saw both Anita and Maggie warily observing the strangers blocking the mouth of the alley. Anita had her paper splayed in her right hand like a hand of cards. Maggie carried a stack of paper, ready to turn it into one of her paper creatures at the first sign of serious danger. Both, she saw, had their attention mainly on the dark-haired boy. He, like the other two children, appeared to be about twelve—Anita's age. All three seemed as ready to fight as Nenene's own companions were, but the boy seemed to be the most focused on her group, although his female teammate was a close second.  
  
The girl, in addition to seemingly being Anita's age, shared the youngest Paper Sister's pink hair and green eyes as well. As she looked carefully at the girl and her young male friends, Nenene saw that they were definitely not related to each other, but very accustomed to each other all the same. They didn't appear to be merely friends, but comrades as well. The shortest member of the group was a blond boy with spiky hair and a loud orange outfit who was trying to look serious, but instead was managing to only look confused, perpetually hyper, and from the way he kept glancing at the dark haired boy on the other side of his female teammate, determined not to be upstaged. The other boy, however, seemed to be concentrating solely on the sisters in front of her. He had looked at her briefly, and to her irritation, dismissed her immediately as unimportant. Nenene decided quickly that he was one of those people who had a natural talent for making others feel useless. She allowed herself to be annoyed at the boy for a moment more, then turned her attention to the man standing behind the children.  
  
At first, she had taken him for an old man with an odd taste in hairstyles. Now, she saw that, despite his silver hair, which he wore spiked to the left, he was quite young, perhaps even her age. She couldn't tell much more about him, because his face was covered from the nose down by a mask that looked almost like a stretched out turtleneck. His left eye was covered by a crookedly worn navy-blue headband with a piece of metal attached. Nenene looked back at each of the children. Both boys wore the same headband, with the odd swirl symbol on the metal, straight across their foreheads and the girl wore it as an actual headband, holding most of her short, pink hair out of her face. Obviously, this headband held some significance, and as she glanced again at the group, she guessed that it was perhaps a military symbol. Most likely, the children were in training and the silver haired man was perhaps their sensei. His clothes, at least, had the look of a uniform.  
  
But with this last observation, Nenene frowned. They might be military, but the weapons they were holding looked like some variation of a dagger. She didn't see any guns or ammunition. Nenene looked up at the buildings and seriously considered that one of three things had occurred. Perhaps they had traveled through time, or perhaps to another dimension. The third possibility was that she had simply been around the Paper Sisters for too long and had gone insane. Whichever the case was, they were most certainly not in the Tokyo she recognized anymore, and now that she realized this, she was able to realize what the group in front of her looked like. They looked like a team of ninjas, albeit a very odd one.  
  
Just as Nenene opened her mouth to ask these "ninjas" if she and the sisters had perhaps stumbled onto the set of some movie when she was interrupted by a loud shriek.  
  
While the others had been observing the group in front of them and assessing the situation, Michelle had been doing the same thing, with at least part of her mind. The larger part of it, however, had been involved in slow but steady the production of the sparkles that appeared in her eyes as she finally shrieked and glomped the adorable dark-haired boy.  
  
"WAI!!! Will you be my little brother?"  
  
Nenene smacked her head in exasperation while the other observers simply stared, too startled to react. Sasuke was struggling valiantly to free himself from Michelle's hug without hurting her. After a few seconds his teammates had recovered enough to react, although not as he had hoped. Sakura was fuming that another woman had touched her Sasuke-kun, Naruto was snickering in his face, and he had the strong suspicion that if he turned around, his sensei would be laughing at him as well. It seemed like Sakura would be his best hope...  
  
Or not. Suddenly, the tall and rather busty blonde was yanked off of him from behind by the pink-haired girl who had come through the alley. As he caught his breath, Sasuke was dimly aware that the girl was yelling at the blonde woman, who was apparently her sister, although they didn't look alike at all. Naruto had begun full-blown laughter, Kakashi looked like he might have an annoying smirk on his face, and Sakura had apparently turned her anger toward his rescuer.  
  
When he had regained his composure, Sasuke saw that the blonde woman had managed to alleviate the tension between the two groups. The women no longer were armed, and his own companions, with the exception of Sakura, had relaxed. As he looked up, the pink-haired stranger spoke.  
  
"Don't pay any attention to my stupid sister, she does that sometimes," the girl shot a glare at the blonde, who looked off to the side and pulled at her cheek. "I'm Anita, the tall, dark, quiet girl is my sister Maggie, and the one who attached herself to your friend is Michelle." Looking back at the group to see the unintroduced woman cracking her knuckles and glaring at her, Anita hurried on. "The one with the glasses is Sumiregawa Nenene. She's not my sister; she's just an author."  
  
There was a pause, then Kakashi cleared his throat and looked at his team. Naruto would just manage to stop laughing, then would look at Sasuke and start snickering again. Sakura was glaring at the girl with the pink hair, and had a firm grip on her kunai. As Kakashi remembered her previous mood, he decided that he didn't want to know what she would say about them if he asked her do perform introductions. He looked at Sasuke and saw that the boy appeared to be recovered, but Kakashi could see that he would not have any further interactions with the strange women if he could help it. With a sigh, Kakashi realized that left him as group spokesman.  
  
"This is Naruto, Sakura, and the boy you've already acquainted yourselves with is Sasuke." Kakashi tapped each student on the head not-so-gently as he introduced them, pulling each of them out of their thoughts and bringing their attention to the situation at hand. The pink-haired girl, Anita, giggled slightly as all three students glared up at the man. Kakashi seemed blissfully unaware of the laughter or the glares, but at the sound, Sakura quickly turned her attention back to the alley, and hit Naruto lightly in the shoulder, causing him to do the same.  
  
"And who are you?" asked Nenene after another pause, when it became clear that Kakashi had finished speaking.  
  
"Hm? Oh, I'm their sensei." Kakashi nodded with finality, and what looked like a pleasant smile under his mask. After a much shorter pause, he spoke again, just as Anita was opening her mouth to ask his name. "Hatake Kakashi."  
  
As her sensei spoke, Sakura studied the women in the alley. She became more and more sure of what the objects they were carrying were, but her brain was still refusing to see how they could be used as weapons. After all, it was just—  
  
"Is that paper?" she asked suddenly. She was dimly aware that she had interrupted one of the sisters, Maggie, she thought, but Sakura was far more interested in the upcoming answer.  
  
There was a short pause as her companions looked at their normally polite—at least outwardly—teammate, obviously confused by her behavior.  
  
Anita frowned a little at the girl who had just interrupted her sister. They were trying to figure out what had happened to them, where they were, and why, and this girl just wanted to know about the paper?  
  
"Yeah, it is," Anita replied, rather crossly. She swiftly pulled out a piece of paper from the pack strapped to her leg and smoothly threw it at one of the walls of the alley, where it embedded itself several inches deep.  
  
Naruto visibly reacted the strongest of the shinobi. His eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open. "Amazing! Hey, hey, can you teach me to do that?" Sasuke said nothing, but his eyebrows lifted, and he looked impressed as well. Kakashi looked to be completely unphased and simply nodded once at the display.  
  
Satisfied, Anita said smugly, "Better than steel." Michelle smiled and shook her head slightly at her younger sister. Maggie took a few steps forward, about to answer Naruto. Suddenly, a kunai flew across the alley and was embedded in the wall next to the piece of paper.  
  
Startled, everyone from both groups turned to look at Sakura. Her attention, however, was fixed on Anita. With a smirk of her own, she said, just as smugly as the other girl had, "I think I'll stick to steel." Almost as an afterthought, she added, "And leave the paper for books."  
  
The other girl groaned. "Not you, too. There are plenty of books out there. Just go to a library."  
  
With that comment, Sakura's teammates winced. But Sakura's attention was still focused on Anita, with more intensity than any of them had seen from her before, except during spats with her rival, Ino.  
  
Sakura took a few steps closer to the women inside the alley, then deliberately took out another kunai and threw it at the wall.  
  
Everyone watched the kunai split the paper in two as it thudded into the wall. The paper halves seemed to wilt after they were split apart. Kakashi raised his eyebrow at his student's actions, then sighed and moved to keep Sasuke, and more importantly, Naruto from interfering.  
  
Anita glared at the other girl and pulled out several sheets of paper, spreading them in her hand like she had been carrying them earlier. Before she stepped forward, she shot a quelling look back at her sisters, to keep them from stopping her. Maggie looked at her gravely and nodded to her, Michelle cheerfully smiled and waved, and Nenene looked both exasperated and worried.  
  
Both girls took a step forward and readied their throwing weapons. Suddenly, Kakashi coughed, and paper and steel flew toward each other in the alley.  
  
'  
  
Dun dun dun! Yes, long, perhaps boring, and in the end, overly dramatic. And it stops right where things start to get interesting. I know. That just means good things for the next chapter!  
  
And by the way, in case you were wondering, which you probably aren't, I really do think that Michelle would do that to Sasuke if she ever met him. I can just imagine it...   
  
Anyway, about why this took so long. Unfortunately, I was singularly unmotivated and uninspired, and therefore unable to finish before I went on vacation for a week and a half, like I was hoping to. To anyone waiting—sorry! However, I did manage to finish (obviously) and do some rather heavy editing while on vacation (ok, on the seven hour plane ride back, in the middle of the night :-P ). Margaret Weis is soothing to my writing senses and always a joy to read. Even exercised my brain with some Latin. Anyway, enough of the commercial. Despite the editing—which did improve things considerably, believe me :::shudders:::—the chapter was probably still a bit boring, but the previous chapters were seriously lacking in this sort of observation and description. There was also some shifting of POV, but hopefully it seemed natural enough, and wasn't too confusing. As always, feel free to follow Silver Ash's example and comment on anything that I've included (or failed to include) or the way I've included something in this story. I do read and consider the things my reviewers bring up. Thanks!  
  
And, to my wonderful reviewers...  
  
**Silver Ash**, thank you so much for the wonderful and heartening review. I'm glad to know that people are indeed reading not just the story, but my notes as well! Also, thank you for bringing my lack of physical descriptions to my attention—I hadn't even thought of that. -.-' I'm glad that you enjoyed, and thank you so much for the review!  
  
Thanks also to **Eadha Ohn**, although I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter posted. I was absolutely thrilled to receive your review and know that people are actually finding and reading this story. Which of course, made me feel really, really guilty about not getting this chapter up...but don't stop, please!!  
  
'  
  
Next chapter: Sakura vs. Anita!  
  
(finally)

'

'


	4. Sakura vs Anita

Summary: After entering a strange alley, ROD the TV's San Shimai (and Nenene) have ended up in the Naruto world, where they encounter Team Seven, featuring Sakura, who has been having a very bad day.  
  
And now, without further delay, Sakura vs. Anita, part one.  
  
Chapter 4:  
  
Sakura vs. Anita  
  
'  
  
_Both girls took a step forward and readied their throwing weapons. Suddenly, Kakashi coughed, and paper and steel flew toward each other in the alley._

* * *

Instead of using her paper to attack, as Sakura had clearly been expecting, Anita caused each of the pieces to move in front of a kunai. As a kunai hit a sheet of paper, it became embedded just past the tip, and immediately fell to the ground. When Sakura saw what had happened to the three kunai she had thrown, she pulled out a handful of shuriken and threw them in quick succession at the other girl, using different angles with each throw.  
  
Sakura wasn't worried about hitting any of the women who had come through the alley with Anita—as soon as the fight had begun, the women had edged around the two girls and joined Team Seven at the mouth of the alley. Naruto, still standing almost in the middle of the alley, had backed up a few steps to stand closer to his sensei, who had repositioned himself so he could lean against the corner of a wall with his arms across his chest. Nenene and Maggie stood together near Naruto, but on the other side of the street, almost as if an invisible line had been drawn down the center of the alley, separating the two groups—for the most part. Michelle, with even more persistence than usual for her, had gleefully attempted to position herself next to Sasuke. Sasuke, who had been watching her approach, had been expecting just such a move from long dealings with the likes of Ino, and had unobtrusively edged around to place Naruto directly in the woman's path. Each time Michelle tried to move toward Sasuke, the dark-haired boy would take a step in the opposite direction, all the while appearing to be totally focused on the fight between his teammate and the paper user.  
  
Several shuriken flew at Anita, each far enough away from the others that Anita couldn't possibly block each singly, as she had done with Sakura's previous attack. Sakura watched her opponent carefully, expecting Anita to attempt to dodge the shuriken and give open herself to another attack.  
  
Anita remained unmoving. Sakura frowned, attempting to figure out what the girl's strategy was. Suddenly, she gasped. To the surprise of all the Konoha ninjas, Anita had summoned a solid wall of paper. The shuriken thudded harmlessly into the shield. When all had hit the wall, Anita released the paper onto the ground, leaving it lying at her feet for further use. She looked up, looking for Sakura's next move, only to discover a blank wall instead of her opponent.  
  
When Anita had raised the shield, Sakura had been worried that it would be permanent, or that, when she released it, Anita would do so by turning each individual sheet of paper into a blade aimed at the ninja. Sakura also realized that although her new, pink-haired rival could manipulate paper, she probably couldn't see through it. The kunoichi concentrated her chakra to her feet and ran straight up the wall that her back had been to. As she did so, Sakura could hear the soft gasps from at least one of Anita's companions. She nodded to herself. This proved what she had already suspected; Anita had an odd and apparently powerful gift, the manipulation of paper, but she was not a ninja. These women had not seen a ninja fight before. All the better for Sakura's next attack. Positioned several feet above the other girl's pink head, Sakura readied another kunai in her hand and watched as Anita dropped her paper shield and began looking from side to side for her opponent.  
  
As Anita looked to the end of the alley where their audience was positioned, Sakura brought her kunai forward and propelled herself off the wall and toward the body of the other girl. Just as Sakura pushed herself from the wall, Anita noticed both her sisters and Sakura's teammates looking at a place high up on the alley walls. She quickly jerked her head up to see what the others were watching. Even as her eyes widened in surprise, Anita reacted, dropping into a crouch and splaying her right hand on several of the sheets of paper on the alley floor. She swept her hand up above her head, the paper following it like a tail, protecting her head and back. Anita jerked her other arm out to protect her face, which the paper was not yet covering, just as Sakura reached her.  
  
Sakura's left shoulder hit the paper shield above Anita's head, painfully dislocating it, but she had twisted the right side of her body enough that it was clear of the paper. She brought the kunai to Anita's arm in a vicious stroke, drawing blood in a deep, slashing cut that went lengthwise for almost five inches across her forearm.  
  
As she landed, Sakura realized that Naruto was jumping up and down in the alley, cheering encouragements wildly. Right next to him were Nenene and Michelle, now standing together, shouting just loudly for Anita, with Maggie joining in with a quieter cheer once in a while. Every so often, if Naruto would jump to close, Nenene would glare at him intimidatingly. Sakura almost grinned at the sight. Sasuke, standing between Naruto and Kakashi, was actually smiling a little. Sakura's mouth dropped open. He seemed to approve of how she was fighting. Inner-Sakura gave a triumphant "Hell yeah!" It was about time Sasuke got to see her fight seriously. Reluctantly, she turned her gaze away from her dark-haired teammate to her sensei. He also appeared to be smiling, although he wasn't giving encouragement like Naruto. As she looked at him, he gave her the thumbs up. She smiled back at all of them, and turned her attention back to her opponent, becoming serious once more.  
  
Sakura and Anita had both sprang back immediately after their clash, and were once again at opposite walls of the alley, now breathing a little more heavily, with an injury apiece. Sakura watched Anita closely for another opening, knowing that she would not be able to use the same trick again. Anita reached for more paper from the pack on her leg. It was then that Sakura realized that the other girl had yet to attack.  
  
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A/N: Wow, that didn't take nearly as long as the last chapter to write, and it went much better than I anticipated. Sweet. I was toying with the idea of making the entire fight just one chapter, but this seemed like a good place to end it, even though it is only a couple pages long. So, sorry about the length. But, as promised, there is a good fight starting! Stick around till the end! (which will hopefully be fairly coming soon—just a couple more chapters, I think)  
  
And, uh, yeah. I just realized about three hours after I wrote this, and was getting into bed, that there is no dialogue. Oops. Do you think this hinders the chapter? Does it even matter? Please review and give me your opinion.  
  
I had another reviewer! Yay!  
  
**Fionn**, thank you for your wonderful review! I'm glad you like it. I do have a problem with chapter length, I agree. Unfortunately, this didn't turn out to be much better. However, you should be either happy, or worried, that this is much longer than what I had planned. Also, now that you mention it, I was thinking (rather unconsciously) of the paper manipulation as a bloodline trait. Don't worry, I wasn't going to let Naruto be able to use it (he gets too much neat stuff anyway), but you know how he is when he sees something cool... Anyway, thank you so very much for taking the time and effort to read, review, and think about my story, and bring some good points to my attention.  
  
Once again, I welcome reviews and helpful criticisms, so if you notice something that you think is odd, really liked or didn't like, feel free to push the review button. I love knowing that people are actually reading this, and that it isn't disappearing into a black hole somewhere.  
  
Next chapter: Anita vs. Sakura! (part two of the fight)  
  
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	5. Anita vs Sakura

Summary: After encountering one another in an alley, ROD the TV's Anita faces off against Naruto's Sakura, and now, it's Anita's turn to attack.

(Glossary at the bottom for a few more Naruto terms, and the note in the story is found at the very bottom.)

A/N: Considering how I didn't think I could write action, this chapter went surprisingly well, and it even gets quite good near the end. And I think it's the longest one yet! But what am I holding you up here for? Read on...

Chapter 5:

Anita vs. Sakura

_Anita reached for more paper from the pack on her leg. It was then that Sakura realized that the other girl had yet to attack._

* * *

Moving her right arm carefully, Anita pulled three sheets of paper out of the pack on her leg. When Anita saw Sakura's eyes open a little wider with recognition of the coming attack, Anita smirked a little. She looked over at Nenene and her sisters, all whole-heartedly supporting her, and gave them a wave with her right hand, showing them—and Sakura—that she was fine despite her injury.

She looked back at Sakura, who had fallen into a tense, defensive posture, and attempted to judge the effects of her opponent's injury. Sakura was cradling her left arm to her chest with a makeshift sling, made from her forehead protector. Anita nodded to herself as she realized this as an opening she could take advantage of. She continued to look at Sakura, as if further assessing the other girl, when she suddenly pulled several more sheets of paper out and directed them at Sakura. As they flew, they spread out, making it impossible for Sakura to simply dodge to one side.

Sakura watched the paper fly closer, pieces on the top, left, and right blocking off her possible escape routes. The pieces in the middle were positioned randomly, and followed slightly behind those on the sides. Sakura immediately realized she would be unable to dodge so many sheets of paper because Anita would simply send more after her, or possibly even control those in the air to follow her. Quickly dropping her kunai and moving her right hand to the sling on her chest, Sakura rapidly performed a series of hand seals. She realized briefly how lucky she had been to have kept her hand uninjured, despite the pain that shot down her arm as her fingers flew.

Anita wasn't sure what Sakura was attempting as the other girl began moving her hands. Suddenly, she gasped. Where there had been a lone girl in the path of Anita's paper, with a poof of smoke Maggie and Michelle appeared, their arms outstretched, protecting her opponent.

"Ma-nee? Mi-nee? What—? Why are you stopping me?" Confused and hurt, Anita flicked more sheets of paper at those in the air, bringing them to the ground before they could hit her sisters. When they didn't respond, she looked past her sisters just in time to see Sakura throw a kunai at each of them.

"Ma-nee! Mi-nee!" Even Sakura winced at Anita's pain-filled cry, but she still watched, tense, ready to move, depending on how her desperate plan would work.

Anita was too distraught at first to see what was going on in front of her. When she did look up, she had to blink her tear-filled eyes to make sure they weren't playing tricks on her. Stunned, Anita didn't think to draw any paper up to defend herself. At the last second, she threw herself down and barely out of the way of one kunai, but couldn't avoid the second, which cut a deep gash across the shoulder of her already injured arm.

Sakura nodded somewhat tiredly as she saw her plan had succeeded. She had been able to penetrate Anita's defenses, although she hadn't expected the other girl to have been able to dodge one of the kunai. Apparently using paper was not Anita's only means of defense—or offense.

Anita stood up shakily, her left hand clamped over the new wound on her right arm. "What did you do to my sisters?" she demanded angrily.

"Anita!" Michelle called out, her normally cheerful voice concerned. "Are you alright?"

"You guys—you're ok!" Anita exclaimed, still half-convinced her sisters were lying bleeding on the ground in front of Sakura.

"We're ok. Be careful, Anita," Maggie advised her younger sister.

Satisfied a last, Anita turned to glare furiously at the kunoichi. "What did you do to them?"

Sakura answered her enraged opponent calmly. "They were never there; it was an illusion."

"Illusion?" Anita murmured, disbelieving. But she had seen her sisters appear out of nowhere and she had seen the kunai go straight through them. Then she had seen them out of harm's way, completely fine.

Sakura watched Anita's eyes as the girl thought through her explanation, then saw them harden as she re-evaluated her opponent. As she did, Sakura quickly glanced over at her teammates and grinned a little as she saw the approval on the faces of Sasuke-kun and Kakashi-sensei. Then she noticed Naruto nodding wisely, as if he had seen what she had done as soon as she had performed the hand seals. Sakura sweatdropped. He had actually believed her explanation to Anita!

She closed her eyes and shook her head. Although Anita—and apparently Naruto—believed she had used genjutsu to make the two sisters appear, she had in fact simply combined two ninjutsu techniques. First, she had created two unsubstantial clones of herself with bunshin no jutsu. Then, she had immediately transformed them to take on the appearances of Michelle and Maggie with henge no jutsu.

She hadn't explained correctly to Anita because she didn't want the other girl to be able to understand what she had done—if her attacks were inexplicable, Anita would be under even more pressure. She also hadn't wanted to take the time to explain the basics of ninjutsu to her opponent and allow her recovery time. She had expected Anita's acceptance of her explanation, but Naruto? He had done almost the exact same thing during the chuunin exam. Sometimes he was hopelessly stupid. Wait—make that almost **all** of the time, Sakura thought as she remembered the incident at the library earlier in the day, and countless other similar occurrences from almost every mission Team 7 received.

Sakura turned back to Anita, prepared to funnel her frustration with her teammate into the continuing fight.

Anita's estimation of her opponent had risen considerably following Sakura's last attack—and so had her anger at the other pink-haired girl. Now that she knew another of Sakura's tricks, she wouldn't trust anything that simply appeared near her opponent, and she would also have to be careful when she saw the other girl begin to move her hands together. Anita felt confident that she could win if she kept to distance paper attacks, but those were Michelle's specialty, not hers. She wanted to try a close attack, if for no other reason than the satisfaction of punching the other girl in the jaw for playing with her mind like she had.

With her plan of attack decided, Anita pulled a small stack of paper out of the holster on her leg. When she did, Anita frowned as she noticed how few sheets she had left. All the more reason to keep to close attacks, she reasoned.

Sakura blanched when she saw how many pieces of paper the other girl had pulled out. Before she could form a solid plan for defense, Anita had thrown the paper up to form another wall. Sakura frowned. She had given no indication that she was planning to attack, so why had the paper user gone on the defensive?

Seconds later, her inner question was answered as the paper wall began to collapse and Anita literally came flying through it. She hadn't been on the defensive—she had been hiding her movements. Sakura grabbed a kunai from her weapons pouch and raised her injured arm in front of her chest to block her opponent's left-handed attack. The sheet of paper Anita was using almost like a kunai slashed into the metal of the hitai-ate wrapped around her arm. Anita had a moment to look surprised before she slammed into the kunoichi, carrying them both forward toward the ground.

With an agility that surprised Anita, Sakura pushed sideways off the ground, flipping them over and placing Anita between her and the ground. The paper user hit the ground with a grunt and almost succeeded in pulling Sakura down with her by getting her right hand caught in the strap of Sakura's pouch. Without pausing, Sakura sliced through the strap with her kunai, leaving it wrapped around her enemy's wrist. Anita jumped back up quickly after hitting the ground, noting that her fall had at least managed to jerk her paper free of the other girl's hitai-ate.

She glared at Sakura, and noticed the girl wincing with the pain which blocking Anita's attack had caused her. Anita snapped her left arm out and ran at her opponent, giving her no recovery time. As Sakura prepared to block her arm, Anita jumped up to deliver a series of fast kicks instead.

Sakura ducked underneath the attack and brought her kunai up to slash across the backs of Anita's calves. With a cry of pain, Anita hit the ground and tucked her body in to roll to the far wall of the alley, barely avoiding a downward strike by Sakura. Gasping, she reached into her pouch, pulled out her last sheets of paper, and threw them at Sakura to hold off the ninja's pursuit.

Sakura looked up to see the paper flying toward her. Inner Sakura swore in frustration, sorely tempting Sakura to voice a few of the more choice epithets. She quickly collected her chakra, regretting having to use this particular jutsu, but realizing the necessity. And I was saving this, she thought. As the paper flew closer, Anita clenched her teeth against the pain in her legs and looked up through her bangs to see the effect of her desperate attack. She jerked her head all the way up in surprise as the paper hit an unmoving Sakura. She looked down and painstakingly pushed herself to her knees. When she looked back across the alley, she almost fell over again.

Fallen on the ground was a torso-sized log instead of a pink-haired shinobi.

Remembering Sakura's first successful attack, Anita tiredly looked up the wall, where she saw her opponent perched on the ledge of the building. Her attention was drawn back to the log as it disappeared with a large puff of smoke. Sakura jumped off the top of the building and landed skillfully in the alley where the log had been seconds before.

As they rested briefly at opposite ends of the alley, the two girls evaluated their options. Sakura realized she could beat Anita if the other girl attempted another close attack, but now that she was injured that route had been closed for her. With a sigh, Sakura began to brainstorm ideas to defend against more paper attacks.

Anita faced the same realization; she could no longer attack from close range. She reached down into her paper holster and barely managed to keep the shocked look from her face.

She had no paper left.

Ooo! Weren't expecting that at the beginning of the chapter, were we? Actually, neither was I. It's amazing to me how certain things connected during this chapter. When I had Sakura make a sling out of her hitai-ate, I didn't know it would come in handy for her later on; it was just the only thing I could think of for her to use. Plus, I really didn't think it would go on for nearly so long; I just kept coming up with ideas.

And as for her rather mean little attack she pulled on Anita, I'm not actually sure if she would do something like that because it was pretty cruel. But, she might if she was desperate and a little pissed. :::shrugs:::

Ok, this took a really long time to get here, AGAIN! And I have no valid excuse. I'm a lazy bum, apparently. That's the only explanation I have. That, and you can only get so much written during a thirty minute dinner break at work. Then, I had it pretty much all done, except for the last edit, and then I needed to move into my house, and it got put off for a few more days... Thank you all for your patience, however. I had originally planned to finish the fight in this chapter, but Sakura and Anita wanted me to wait, so the next chapter will contain the conclusion of the fight, and probably the story. After all, that's what the story was about!

I get to do review responses again!

First off, my only repeat reviewer, **Eadha Ohn**; thanks for coming back! And reviewing me again! I'm very sorry to make you and everyone wait so long, but be assured that I do have a winner in mind, and actually have since I began the story. It's just taken me a while to get there...So, in the meantime, thank you very much for reading and reviewing again!

A huge thank you to **Worldwalker Pure** as well for reading—and enjoying—my fics and taking the time to email me a review! I really, really appreciate it. You've written a lot of stories, and I feel bad that I haven't seen a single series you've written about. :( Thank you so much!

Glossary:

bunshin no jutsu: clone skill or replication skill; a ninjutsu that creates an clone of the caster which has no actual substance

genjutsu: illusionary skills carried out by releasing chakra through hand seals

henge no jutsu: transformation skill; ninjutsu used by a ninja to transform herself into someone or something else. Here, Sakura uses it on previously created bunshins of herself, which works because they were created by her, and essentially still her.

hitai-ate: forehead protector. I used this instead of saying "forehead protector" because I think it would have been confusing to keep saying that when it was actually on her arm, not her forehead.

ninjutsu: ninja skills; a wide variety exist, with no real defining element, except the need for chakra and hand seals to carry them out

No, I didn't forget about this note. In case you were thinking...um, there's all that paper laying on the ground! Why can't Anita just use that? Well, I'm a little fuzzy on the exact details but I've never seen a paper user go back and reuse paper, so I'm therefore assuming that they can't. There is also something about them having to use specially made paper, but that's just in the manga, and since I'm basing this on ROD the **TV**, well...And as another little FYI about paper users: they can't control the paper simply by looking at it; they actually have to touch it. So when Anita threw the paper at Sakura, she couldn't have moved it to follow her if she managed to dodge them. Of course, Sakura doesn't know this...

Next chapter: It All Ends Here! Pink vs. Pink! Who Will Win?

(um...yes, I'm still trying to make the titles sound like some of the more corny Naruto episode titles...)


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